The Conservancy’s Sacred Sites program recently pledged 18 grants totaling $310,500. These include seven grants to congregations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, and 11 to upstate churches, for projects ranging from steeple stabilization to roof replacement. The Conservancy also awarded a $35,000 grant to St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, underwritten by the estate of the late Robert W. Wilson, a long-time supporter of the program.
The $35,000 Wilson grant is helping to fund the $500,000 restoration of St. Mark’s built-in copper gutters, which have been leaking for several decades, damaging the sanctuary, which is actively used both for worship and public events and performances. St. Mark’s in the Bowery was constructed in 1795-99 on the site of Peter Stuyvesant’s family chapel, making it the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City.
The seven grants to New York City sites include a $50,000 grant to the 1852 South Bushwick Reformed Church, to stabilize its leaning steeple, and repair deteriorated roof framing and trim. This grant was made possible with funding from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, which joins the Conservancy, the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission’s Historic Preservation Grant Program, and the National Fund for Sacred Places in supporting this major structural project.
VIEW A SLIDESHOW OF ALL GRANTEES
Grants, June 2021 grant round
- St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Harlem, Manhattan, $25,000 for Parish Hall Roof Replacement
- Church of the Heavenly Rest, Carnegie Hill, Manhattan, $20,000 for Masonry, Stained Glass & Roof Restoration
- Congregation Ohab Zedek, Upper West Side, Manhattan, $25,000 for Façade Repairs
- Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, Upper West Side, Manhattan, $30,000 for Tower & Façade Restoration
- South Bushwick Reformed Church, Brooklyn, $50,000 for Structural Stabilization & Restoration of Spire, Roof Structure & Soffits
- Church of The Resurrection, Kew Gardens, Queens, $25,000 for Tower Roof Restoration
- Rossville A.M.E. Zion Church, Staten Island, $10,000 for New Wood Paneled Entrance Doors & Roof Replacement
- St. George’s Episcopal Church, Newburgh, $25,000 for Tower & Roof Restoration
- Welcome Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Albany, $10,000 for Re-roofing & Structural Repairs at Tower
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Troy, $3,000 for Long Term Structural Monitoring of Masonry Tower
- Trinity Episcopal Church Lansingburgh, Troy, $15,000 for Roof Replacement, Stone Repointing & Stabilization, and Chimney Repairs
- St. Paul’s Church, Salem, $30,000 for Structural Reinforcement of Nave Walls
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Sidney, $7,500 for Roof Replacement
- St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, New Hartford, $5,000 for Roof Replacement
- Christ Episcopal Church, Binghamton, $10,000 for East Gable Coping and Flashing Repairs
- St. Paul’s Syracuse, $10,000 for Masonry Restoration at Parish House & Chapel Wings
- Mission Hope Community Baptist Church, Camillus, $5,000 for Stained Glass Restoration
- Westminster Presbyterian Church, Auburn, $5,000 for Conditions Survey